This class examines the development of the concept of “artistic genius” and evaluates how it continues to pervade contemporary thinking in art, performance, and culture. Working historically, the class traces the overlapping forces that have shaped this enduring concept. By reading theoretical texts and analyzing artworks and performances, we question how the figure of the “artist” has become inextricably bound to the notion of “genius” in Western art history. Feminist, critical race, decolonial, and queer methods guide our approach as we consider the stakes involved for ourselves and each other in today’s hetero-patriarchal capitalist world. In addition to tracing the genealogies of “artistic genius,” we also explore how the concept is perpetuated by capitalism, art history, and other institutions. Considering how the concept falls into criticism and crisis, we finally ask what it might mean to create things without being “geniuses,” or, even, without being artists.